Please Come
by StrydeVex
Summary: Tragic events break down Artemis, and he's in dire need of a friend. Holly doesn't believe that it's serious, and Artemis is left on his own to deal with it. (Warning: Mildly dark topics) Set after The Time Paradox, potentially A/H
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl**

**Well, here I am once again! This story is almost entirely inspired by another story I read recently that went completely the wrong direction, in my opinion.**

**Just to clarify, set after the Time Paradox. Also, because I want to test a little new format out, this is going to be a lot longer than my usual 1000-1500 word chapters. I want to see if I can keep the story decent, or if I just start rambling if it's that long, maybe I'll just keep writing until the whole story is finished, and just post it as a one-shot, or maybe not. Let me know how it is!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

**Fowl Manor**

Artemis stared at the screen, overwhelmed by a feeling of disbelief and shock. Drafting the contract he'd been working on was lost on him as he looked over the image, and the scrolling words across the live report from a news source.

"Airplane crashes thirty kilometers outside Dublin. No surviving passengers were found, but there were no other casualties of anyone outside the plane reported as a result of the crash."

The image shown now was of a woman, hair blowing in the wind as she held the microphone close enough to hear her words as she spoke about the accident, but only minutes before, the image of the wreckage was shown briefly, and that was the image that was burned into Artemis's mind. The burning wreckage of the side of the plane that read a simple word:

"Fowl"

Artemis sat alone in his study, simply staring at the screen as he tried to understand what had just happened. There were no interruptions. Butler was gone on a trip of his own for a short time, and hadn't planned to return until tomorrow, and Juliet no longer stayed at the Fowl residence. Artemis was the only person in the manor.

He leaned back in his chair, but he was anything but relaxed. His muscles all strained, and his hands gripped the arms of his chair so tightly that his knuckles grew white. The glow of the screen cast an eerie glow across his pale face as he sat quietly. A feeling of dampness seemed to roll down his cheek, but he ignored it.

Artemis shut his eyes tight as he sat in his study of, what was now, his manor. A feeling of cold rushed through his veins, causing him to start shivering uncontrollably. His calm demeanor had shattered.

Seconds passed, minutes, hours even, before the shaking calmed slightly. He opened his eyes to the now-blinding glow of the screen, which had now moved on to other things. His hands slowly moved to the keyboard and mouse which sat before him, unmoved since that image had come. He navigated slowly through several pages of information, ignoring all of it and navigating the menus by habit more than anything, to the all familiar email composition. He hit a few keys before the message was directed to broadcast via his phone, and from there, to what seemed like a ring on his finger, to a certain elf.

He looked at the screen through blurred vision for several minutes, trying to compose himself for the simple action of writing down something that could explain what had happened, what he wanted… No… What he needed right now…

He stared even longer at the blank area before moving his hands slowly across keys. He added the all too familiar red tag to the message, the color that brought back a painful feeling on its own, and slowly, deliberately, typed two words into the box before clicking 'Send'.

"Please come."

He slowly stood from his computer, not even bother to turn it off, the timer would manage that in a while. He walked through the hallway to his bedroom, collapsing onto his bed fully dressed. He didn't move, he only stayed there, a continuous image of a burning airplane churning in his mind, mixed with the shaking of his body and the water he could feel on his face, until hours later, he slipped into a blurry, miserable unconsciousness.

**Haven**

Holly sat at her desk, slowly making her way through a large stack of paperwork that only seemed to get larger when she wasn't looking at it. She couldn't help but want to just throw it all in the trash, go home, and call it a day. After her jaunt through time, she had a harder time than ever focusing on something as monotonous as paperwork, but she'd rather not think about that. Whenever she thought about her last adventure with Artemis, she couldn't help but feel a wave of anger, betrayal, and hurt. He'd tried to apologize, and she'd done her best to accept it and understand, but she hadn't been as sincere as she'd let on. She still felt more hurt from the actions than Artemis knew. She felt more guilt than ever in her life when she'd thought that Artemis's mother was poisoned by her actions, and she was willing to do anything to fix that, only to find out that she'd been lied to, only so Artemis's plans would have a fairy's magic to aid him. She understood, but he didn't know that she would have said no if he hadn't lied. She would have gone anyway, she would've done anything to help a friend… Or so she kept telling herself…

I notification on the screen and a sound jolted Holly from her thoughts of the past and she glanced up at the screen. A small red icon was blinking in the corner for a few moments, before it stopped. Holly opened the notification to find that it had been a message from Artemis, tagged with what they'd used for an 'Urgent' message. She immediately felt doubt and hurt wash over her as she looked at the name. She stared at it for a few more seconds before deciding to open it. It couldn't hurt just to see what it was about, at least.

The message didn't say anything about what was wrong. It didn't even explain what was happening. It only said two words.

"Please come."

No signature, no message, no reason, just those simple words. Holly stared at the screen, looking at the message. She felt the same feeling of hurt and distrust rising inside of her. If it was really so urgent, wouldn't he have at least said what was happening? It couldn't be anything so severe that he would be this vague, he would've told her what was wrong. Maybe it was just a mistake.

Holly deleted the message before going back to her work, trying to forget about the message. She was going to the surface in a week for the Ritual anyway, she would go see what was wrong then. After all, what could be so bad that a week would change anything, if he didn't say the problem?

In another room, Foaly had seen the message across one of his many screens. He didn't know any more than Holly did, but he knew that Artemis would never be so vague about something without a good reason. Holly had deleted it, but something had to be wrong. He would have to talk to Holly about it some time, but now, he had some work that needed to be done. He turned back to the security program that he'd been looking over before the message had come, slowly letting the message fade into his memory.

**Fowl Manor, the next day**

Artemis was lying in his bed, sheets pulled tightly around him as he stared at the wall. Butler had returned as soon as he could when he heard the news, but he hadn't managed to get Artemis to talk to him very much. He'd come into his room when Artemis hadn't been in his study, but Artemis hadn't wanted to talk much, so Butler had left him alone after a few failed attempts to talk to him. He came in a couple times to bring him meals, but they were always left uneaten.

The sheets almost felt like they were trying to choke him, but he'd rather be there than have to go into the manor and face the emptiness that would be out there now. The only residents of the manor anymore would be Butler and himself.

He clenched his jaw tightly and buried his face in his pillow at the thought as his eyes started to tear up. He couldn't allow himself to cry again, or it wouldn't stop for hours.

He glanced over at his nightstand where his phone had sat silently for days now, and felt a stab of pain go through his chest. Holly hadn't replied since he'd sent his email to her the night before. He could hardly blame her though, after what had happened the last time he'd sent her a similar message. How could he expect her to believe him again anyway?

Before he could get too far into his train of thought, there was a knock at the door to his room. Butler would enter regardless, but he continued knocking when he came as a sort of courtesy. All Artemis managed was a barely a whisper, more of a croak of the words than speaking them.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Butler's large frame, silhouetted from the light in the hall contrasted against the darkness inside Artemis's own room. He saw a black outline of an arm move over to the switch and flip on a light. Artemis shut his eyes tight against the blinding light that was now flowing from the few bulbs on his ceiling.

He heard creaks of the floor as Butler moved across the room toward him, and felt the bed shift as Butler sat beside him on the soft surface.

"Artemis?"

Artemis didn't want to move, let alone open his eyes. It was too bright, and he had no inclination to do anything. His intentions to just pretend that he was sleeping evidently radiated through the air, because Butler immediately spoke again.

"Artemis, I know you're awake. Look at me."

Artemis just let out a small sigh before rolling over slightly and looking at his bodyguard, and oldest friend. Worry lines seemed to be etched into his face, and masked concern was filling his eyes as he looked at Artemis's form curled into the bed. He looked so small, so insignificant, like he'd just given up.

"Artemis, the… the funeral is going to be planned next week… I just wanted to speak with you to see if you wanted to have anything to do with it, or if I should just…"

He stopped speaking when Artemis's eyes closed again and he started to shiver. Butler sighed as he looked at his charge, helpless to stop what was hurting him. He stayed beside him for a few minutes more, before finally standing from the bed.

"I'll make sure everything is handled. I'll be back in a few hours with supper."

Butler silently left the room, closing the door behind him as he left the room, engulfing Artemis and his room in darkness once more. Artemis was still where he'd been, but he was shaking and clenching his teeth.

He tried to block out his thoughts as he lay alone in his bed.

He couldn't help but turn his thoughts to his family, his mother, his father, his brothers… All the things, the pain, the misery… Everything that he'd gone through to pick up the pieces and put his family back together, and they never even knew… The wars he'd stopped, the ends of the world that he'd prevented, the unbeatable odds that he'd managed to think his way around, and they never knew how much he'd worked, even when he was a boy, to pick up the pieces again.

After a while, his thoughts roamed to the people underground. Foaly, Mulch… and Holly… The sting still stayed in his heart, the feeling of betrayal, and the feeling that he somehow deserved it for what he'd done to her to save his mother. Was that really his only option, or had he ruined his friendship with the person he'd been through more with than anyone else?

No one was there to answer him but silence. Quiet, dead, empty silence.

He closed his eyes to try to find a few hours of sleep before Butler returned, maybe he'd get a bit of rest without nightmares… Maybe…

**Haven**

Foaly sat at his desk, finalizing some changes to the security software that he'd been working on to monitor documents and emails on the network for certain keywords and similar phrases. He sat up straighter, stretching his back and cracking his fingers after the arduous task of typing out the new code, and searching for errors in the strings and strings of data. He glanced over at the clock, and realized that almost everyone would have gone home by now.

He looked back to his screen, and noticed the small note he'd written himself while he was partially through his work a few hours before. A small frown formed on his face as he remembered why he'd written the note to himself. The message from Artemis that had come to Holly yesterday. He glanced to the door of his office, judging whether or not Holly would still be in her office. If the stack of paperwork he'd seen a few days earlier had gone by at its usual pace, Holly would still be at work on it, trying to get it done so she wouldn't be bothered by it for too much longer.

He quickly shut down his computer with a series of short commands, and stood from the desk. He made his way down the hall towards her office to see light shining from the door. Holly never seemed to like shutting her door for some reason, maybe something to do with closed spaces, or just a habit.

He stood partially in the door and saw that she had her back to him, focusing on what was left of the once-large stack of paper than had been significantly reduced to only a couple papers. He lightly knocked on the side of the doorway, and she straightened in her chair, turning to look at him. The skin under her eyes was slightly darker than normal, and her eyes seemed to be drooping, but she was still awake.

When she saw it was Foaly, she straightened her back out for a quick stretch, "Hey Foaly."

"Hey."

She waited for a few more seconds, waiting for him to continue before speaking again, "Something important?"

"Well, yeah… Holly, ah, about that… Email that you got yesterday…"

A frown slowly formed on Holly's face as the words left Foaly's mouth.

"What were you doing looking through my email?"

"It was nothing, I was just checking a few things for the software I was working on and I happened to see it… Look Holly, I think this could be serious."

The frown was still on Holly's face, "Yeah, just like the last time he sent me an email like this, right?"

Foaly was rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke, "Holly, that was important, extremely important, he just tried to handle it the only way he knew. He loves his mother, and he would do anything for her, you know that. He would never hurt his friends if it wasn't the only option, and you know it."

"I thought I knew that, but did he know that that was the only option? Maybe I would have gone on my own terms if I'd known. He didn't know that I wouldn't, and he blamed me for a plague just to stop any doubt for himself. He doesn't care, Foaly, he does anything to get what he wants."

"Holly, that's not fair, he isn't like that anymo-"

"No, Foaly, I don't want to hear it. I'm going to the surface for the Ritual next week anyway, if it's something real, I'll handle it then. He can wait, or he would've said otherwise."

Foaly wanted to argue, but he could almost see the anger starting to rise in Holly's eyes as they were talking. He just gave her a nod before leaving her alone in the room with her work. He went to gather his things from his office while he thought about what could've been so urgent for Artemis on the surface. As he left the building, he wondered if the Mud Boy that, not that he'd tell anyone, grown so attached to. The only person who actually understood his lectures and technology. Artemis had managed to gain Foaly's respect, if nothing else, and Foaly was worried. Something had to be severely wrong for the genius if he was asking Holly for help.

**Fowl Manor, four days later**

Butler stood at the table in the Manor's kitchen, slowly chopping some vegetables for a soup while he was lost in his own thoughts. Ever since… The news had come, Artemis had hardly even spoken, let alone eat. Whenever he went in to give Artemis a meal, the previous one seemed to still be untouched on his nightstand, and he was always acting like he was asleep. On one occasion, the day before, Artemis had been up changing his clothes and Butler had the opportunity to see what was happening to his charge's body, and the only thing that had come to mind was how closely he resembled a skeleton, his pale skin seemingly stretched over his bones with no muscle or fat between the two.

Butler was ripped from his thoughts when he gave himself a small cut with the sharp knife he was using. He stuck the bleeding end of his thumb into his mouth and made his way to the bathroom the bandage and clean it before continuing on with the meal. While he washed his hands, he wondered for a moment if Artemis could be doing anything so extreme…

Artemis was lying alone in his room, staring at the wall beside him, clutching a pillow to his chest. He'd grown lonely over the past few days, never realizing before how much he enjoyed company of friends and family before it was ripped away from him. His mind seemed to have taken up a new habit of forming faces of people he knew in the shadows and texture of the walls and ceiling. He'd started holding the pillow beside himself so he could cover his face when these images started showing in ordinary things, but it had become a companion of sorts. He had trouble sleeping without the soft fabric next to him now, so here nearly all of the time.

He held it tighter and buried his face in the soft fabric, memories flooding over him like they did all the time now. What little pain had come from the lack of nourishment had left by now, but that didn't stop him from feeling hollow and pained when these thoughts came to mind. He saw all of his memories in the dark of his closed eyes. He thought about all the friends he'd made, and wished that any of them were here…

**Well, before I run this into the ground, this is a good place to stop this chapter. Let me know what you thought, and if the longer chapter went well, or if I should stick to shorter ones, and see those of you who liked it in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl**

**You know when you see jokes about authors writing something and just leaving it, despite people asking for more? Apparently I'm that person, and I apologize for that heavily, but I'm back now!**

**If you care about why I haven't updated, I've just been really busy with university and a channel on youtube. Hopefully I can make up for making you wait so long.**

**Chapter 2**

**Haven, two days later**

Holly sat at her desk as she always did, finishing up the various daily tasks she had to accomplish every day, but her work was mindless, as she had more important things to think about.

Foaly hadn't spoken to her since he'd initially voiced his concerns about Artemis, and she suspected that he was doing so in an attempt to get her to talk to him, but she didn't plan on giving in to that, even though she was growing more worried about Artemis as time went on. There was never a follow up to the first email, and she was concerned that it may be because he wasn't capable of sending one, or possibly because whatever he'd wanted her for had already passed.

Whatever it was, Holly was worried that she'd let her emotion get in the way of better judgement. She planned on going to the surface tonight for the ritual, and then to go see Artemis immediately to see whether or not he was alright. If required, she could probably find a way to stay longer if there was something that needed her help to reconcile, but she hoped that it was nothing too problematic, despite the serious tone of the email.

Holly shook her head lightly before trying to focus on her work again, but her thoughts would soon start to drift away from the monotonous tasks again, and would continue to do so all day.

"Artemis," Holly mumbled to herself, "don't let this be as bad as I'm making it out to be…"

**Fowl Manor**

The morning came to Fowl Manor, as it always did, but that was no matter of importance to Artemis anymore, as time had no impact on what he did.

Since the funeral, all he'd managed to do was lie in bed most of the time, with the occasional jaunt to his study to attempt to distract himself from the thoughts of everything that was his life now. The emptiness where his family used to be consumed most of his thoughts and emotions, and at times, the emotion mixed with the malnourishment made it neat impossible to even stand.

He'd eaten a single morsel of food since the news after Butler insisted, and refused to leave his room until he'd seen Artemis eat, but the lack of food was still taking its toll on the young man's body. His normally pale skin was a ghostly white, seemingly stretched over his bones. His eyes seemed hollow, and there were dark spots below each eye from lack of sleep. His clothes always appeared disheveled, and his mannerisms were sloppy, almost lazy, rather than his normally formal and polite tones that he kept in speech and body language.

The blinds were permanently drawn over his windows to block the sun from entering and awaking him from his precious few hours of sleep, as well as working as a shield from the outside world. Since the email he sent, there had been no communication with the world apart from the funeral he'd attended for his family, and even then, he'd not spoken a word to anyone, despite their attempts to approach him. Everything he did was an attempt to shut out as many feelings and words as he could. Everyone said they understood, that they cared. They all lied.

All of them. Even Holly…

He cringed slightly at the thought of the elf. The person whom he'd felt closest to had abandoned him when he needed her most, and he deserved it. Everything that was happening to him now was a sort of penance for the pain he'd caused her, and others around him. The plans, misguiding, lying, tricks, all of it. Everything that he'd done to hurt others for his own gain, all of it was finally coming back around to him. He finally got what he'd had coming to him for his entire life as a criminal, a mastermind… A liar…

Artemis slowly stood from his bed where he'd been staring at the ceiling, taking deep breaths and trying to block out the thoughts and memories that were starting to rise out of his emotions. Holly hadn't come because of his mistakes, he'd brought this on himself, there was no reason to think about why he'd done it, or how he could've avoided it.

But still…

A light knock came at the door to his room, and Artemis knew it would be Butler with something for breakfast that would be uneaten, but it was something to get his mind off of his memories.

"Come in, Butler."

The door opened, revealing the massive frame of the bodyguard in the light of the hallway, holding a small plate of food.

"How are you this morning, Artemis?"

Artemis stayed silent for a few moments before answering with his usual response, "I'm fine, Butler."

It was lazy, a lie, but Artemis didn't care. He didn't want to drag others into the pain that he'd caused for himself, there was no point in doing so.

Butler pursed his lips slightly, looking at Artemis and the form that he'd deteriorated into since the news. It was rather common for the bodyguard to do this, but Butler went further today than he had before.

"Artemis, you're not fine. I know you're trying to put on this façade of being in a period of grieving and recovery, and that you'll get better soon, but you're not changing Artemis. I know you, and what you're doing isn't healthy. You need to talk to someone, to eat, to do normal things. You can't just stay in your room and slowly starve to death because of this. You're stronger than that, Artemis…"

For a moment, Artemis wasn't sure how to respond.

"Butler, there's nothing to be done. I'm fully aware that I'm quite unhealthy right now, but give me my time. I'm fine, Butler, there's nothing more to it."

And with that, Artemis laid back down on his bed and closed his eyes. Butler didn't say anything more, but after a few seconds, Artemis heard him put the plate of food on his nightstand before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

The darkness enveloped him again as he was lost back in his thoughts.

He needed to talk to someone... The logical side of him knew that Butler was probably right on that front, but there was no one, and no point in bothering.

He rolled over on his side and held one of his pillows to his chest before closing his eyes to try to get some sleep. Maybe he would get a few hours of rest without any nightmares this time, or maybe he would just stay awake and imagine things that could have been, should have been…

A small sigh left his mouth as he clutched the pillow closer. Maybe someday this would all end and things would go back to something that resembled the way they were before. He certainly didn't know if they would, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

**Haven, a few hours later**

Holly was still in her office, staring at the clock that was displayed on her monitor before her. All of the work that she needed to do had been completed, and there were no anomalies for her to deal with, so now she was waiting for her shift to end so she could leave to the surface. She'd been consumed with worry and paranoia for the whole day, but she'd managed to push it off enough that she could work semi-normally, but now that she was just waiting, the worry returned to the forefront of her thoughts. The lack of distractions just allowed her more time to imagine different scenarios and problems that could've arisen that would've caused Artemis to send that email, and she had nothing else to distract herself from those ideas.

She rubbed her eyes for a few seconds, and looked for anything else to focus on for a little longer before she could leave for the surface, but before she could, a knock came from her door.

As always, it was open, but Foaly tended to knock on the side of the door anyway as a sort of courtesy.

"Holly, we need to talk."

Holly remained silent, waiting for him to speak. If he was going to give her the silent treatment all week, he could explain what was on his mind without her help.

"Holly, I know that you're still upset with Artemis, but I just want to ask you to take this seriously. You're going up to the surface and you don't know what's happened, so I want you to promise that whatever it is, you take it seriously and put aside whatever it is that you're so upset about to make sure nothing is wrong with him first."

Holly looked at the centaur standing in her doorway for a few moments, collecting her thoughts.

"I don't plan on letting a grudge get in the way of helping Artemis if it's serious, Foaly. Whatever this is, I'll do what I can to help, and then this will be over. I'm sure it's nothing, you don't have to be so concerned about the mud boy, he's gotten himself out of worse situations than we ever have."

"But he's also gotten himself into worse. Keep that in mind."

Holly nodded, but didn't respond.

Foaly let out a small sigh, "You can go, Holly. There's nothing left for you here, and I'm sure you'd rather go anyway. I'll make up some excuse if I need to."

"Thanks Foaly."

"Any Holly?"

Holly paused from collecting her things, "Yeah?"

"Please take this seriously, for me?"

Holly let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine, for you."

Foaly nodded and left, leaving Holly alone with her few things to collect before she left for the surface.

At least Foaly seemed to be as concerned as she was too.

Holly looked at her desk once more from the doorway, making sure she hadn't left anything of importance, then she shut the door to leave.

"Artemis, I'll see you in a few hours, you better not have done anything too bad," she mumbled to herself as she left the room behind.

**That's it for this chapter. Again, sorry for the enormous wait, but I hope you still enjoyed!**


End file.
